


heaven is a place on earth

by arekiras



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Marriage, Weddings, dot is alive and Thriving, written for a friend for their birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 13:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14934771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arekiras/pseuds/arekiras
Summary: "When Cat’s magic reaches her heart, brushing against the soul-place just beneath her sternum, she’s filled with warmth and memories. Memories of things that haven’t happened yet, a million sunlit afternoons and starlit evenings and a lovelit life together. The future, splayed out for them, waiting for them."





	heaven is a place on earth

Generally, the lifespan of a weeping willow tree is about fifty years. They’re short lived, for trees. The one Dot stands beneath now, one hand on the bark and another clasped with Catarina’s, is at least two-hundred years old. The first time Dot saw it, she was a young woman, even by mundane standards. She hadn’t yet known love, or heartbreak, or that immortality doesn’t protect you from strained eyes and carpal tunnel and achy knees. 

She did, however, know power when she felt it. She felt power in this tree. In the gnarled knuckles of the branches and the whispering sigh of the leaves rustling together. Power made of a hundred hundred echoes of living moments, fueling it. Feeding it. Allowing it to grow. 

For at least two-hundred years warlocks have been coming to this tree. For funerals, birthdays, weddings. There is magic in shared energies; the combined sadness of mourning souls at a funeral, the concentrated joy as a child blows out a birthday candle and squeals at the shiny new toys. This tree, the Warlock Willow, has been charged with these sacred magical energies. They keep it alive. 

Through the bark and the flesh of the tree, Dot can feel Catarina’s hand pressed against it also. In the roots, if she concentrates, she can feel Magnus standing close to them, his magic felt in the grass and soil and all of the tiny living things. Farther away, off to the side but still shaded by the swaying branches, Alec and Madzie’s presence just brushes Dot’s consciousness. She looks over at them and smiles, digging her bare toes into the dirt. 

Dot looks at Catarina, who has never been more beautiful. She glows from within, golden and perfect, dressed in bright yellow. Her feet are bare, healing hand splayed against the trunk of the willow, other one warm in Dot’s. 

Dot giggles, nerves and excitement bubbling up her throat in one noise, squeezing Cat’s hand. 

“Ready?” Magnus asks, blue shirt rolled to his elbows, white braided rope held out in both of his hands. 

“God, yes,” Dot says, then looks at Catarina sheepishly. 

Cat just smiles, and Magnus begins wrapping the rope methodically around their hands, twisting and twining together until they’re tied together. It’s like they’re one organism, bound together by rope and the tree held between them. 

Catarina is the one who start it, her magic, warm and revitalizing, sparking between their hands. Dot’s magic responds on instinct, and as it melds together, it spreads. Catarina’s magic travels up Dot’s arm, following the pattern of the rope to her wrist and tickling in the crook of her elbow, a thousand electric kisses traveling beneath her skin. Dot knows her magic is doing the same, can feel Catarina from the inside. 

Flesh is a mundane barrier, irrelevant, all Dot wants to do is get closer. 

When Cat’s magic reaches her heart, brushing against the soul-place just beneath her sternum, she’s filled with warmth and memories. Memories of things that haven’t happened yet, a million sunlit afternoons and starlit evenings and a lovelit life together. The future, splayed out for them, waiting for them. 

The magic retreats after that, buzzing down and away until each of them is their own individual person once more, crying together, still connected by skin and bark. 

For the space of a few moments, Dot can feel Catarina all around her and it’s like they’re the only two people on earth. 

Then, Magnus snaps. The rope falls away and in his hand is a champagne bottle. He pops the top off of it and bubbles pour out over his fingers while Alec and Madzie cheer. Magnus pours into two crystal flutes, handing them to Cat and Dot, who wrap their arms and drink. Dot’s comes away smudged with her lipgloss and Cat leans into kiss her. 

It’s bubbly and warm and sweet, not the first and far from the last. 


End file.
